Founded in 2003, the Valley Windows Association is a partnering effort of six local historical organizations:
Each group has its own collection of archives and artifacts, but looking more closely you see that each of their collections overlap and together create a much more diverse and fascinating history of this region. In October 2005, the Valley Windows Association received the Award of Excellence from the Association of Historical Societies and Museums (OAHSM) for their first exhibit "Windows On The Valley".
This exhibit represented the common threads of everyday life in these villages and townships during the 19th and 20th century. It was produced from the archives of these partnering groups, numerous historical photographs were scanned and digitized and mounted.
Historical photographs along with artifacts from each group were displayed. They told the story of each community. Topics such as agriculture, manufacturing, schools, churches, and the influence of social and fraternal organizations were discussed.
The Valley Windows Association continues to collaborate together and plan, develop and create future exhibitions and programs. Together they are sharing the wonderful history of Ohio for future generations.
Beginning October 2006 there was an exhibit called, "Connecticut on the Cuyahoga", which celebrated the founding families from Connecticut who ventured from their established towns to start a new life in the wilds of the Western Reserve during the early 19th century.
In 1795, Connecticut sold its lands to the west to a group of 35 men calling themselves the Connecticut Land Company. A year later, Moses Cleavland led the survey of these lands and then they began selling off subdivisions. For years, people in the east were interested in the vast Northwest Territory.
Businessmen, land speculators, immigrants and adventurers hungered for these lands. Advertisements boasted it as the land of milk and honey, where every luxury could be had without care or labor, wild game was plenty, watermelons grews as large as barrels, hogs fattened on the uncultivated lands, and wheat, cotton and tobacco flourished.
Here a man could become a landed gentlemen.
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Hudson Library, 96 Library St., Hudson OH 44236
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Mon.-Thu. 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
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Fri. - Sat. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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Sunday 12 Noon to 5 p.m.
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For more information:
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(330) 653-6658, ext. 1017
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Fax (330) 653-3373
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* Bath Historical Society, P.O. Box 1, Bath, Ohio 44210 - Contact: Lee Darst (330-659-4211)
* Northampton Historical Society, 221 Washington Ave., Northampton, Ohio 44221 (330-923-6678)
